Here’s our pick of the most interesting ups and downs among analysts’ ratings changes Wednesday:

BP was downgraded by Société Générale to hold from buy following its fourth-quarter results released on Tuesday. Operationally, BP has certainly turned a corner, SocGen says. The brokerage said the key messages from the company’s strategy presentation and results included the 2011 operational and cash flow turnaround, which enables the launch of a progressive dividend policy. But the key risk is the Macondo oil-disaster trial, on Feb. 27. “The impossibility of ‘calling’ the legal outcome leads us tactically to a hold rating, following a year of outperformance,” said Société Générale. In the year to date, the stock has risen around 5.5%.

Key European banks have been downgraded this morning. UBS has been cut to sell from hold by Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland to neutral from buy by Citigroup.

On UBS, Deutsche Bank noted the downside to its target price of 12 Swiss francs. It said the bank’s fourth-quarter results were in line but it has concerns about the private bank. “We are concerned that UBS’s private-bank recovery has lost momentum with inflows slowing and the margin in sharper decline than we forecast; a cautious outlook from management also reinforces our view that UBS will lose investment banking share in 2012,” Deutsche Bank said.

The budget-versus-legacy-carrier divide in the global airline industry looks as entrenched as ever.

AFP/Getty Images

An easyJet Airbus A319 in flight over Spain.

Listening to Air France-KLM and Deutsche Lufthansa recently is a reminder that running an airline can be a miserable succession of profit warnings and job cuts as high fuel prices and tough-to-reduce wage bills play havoc with covering the high cost of buying and running aircraft in a ferociously competitive industry. In the U.S., AMR Corp.’s American Airlines has sought bankruptcy-court protection from its creditors.

The world’s leading low-cost carriers look in ruder health as they take market share and cope better with high fuel prices.

The U.K.’s easyJet said Thursday it notched up a 17% rise in first-quarter revenue amid better-than-expected control of its non-fuel costs.

This is a difficult concept to grasp for those of us obsessed by the twists and turns of the train wreck-style euro crisis, but a lot of ordinary people have barely heard about it.

Need proof? Ask your mum. She may demonstrate a passing knowledge of the situation. But the crisis is now clearly crashing through the “Mum Barrier.”

EPA

After all, it affects those most sacred of things: her holiday plans. Tuesday, low-cost flights operator easyJet–a favorite for Brits heading abroad–said it was making contingency plans, just in case the euro broke up. It’s doing “scenario planning,” its chief executive and chief financial officer said in a conference call.

A few months ago, they would have been burned at the stake for such dangerous heresy.

It’s arguably the worst time to launch a route from London’s Gatwick to Amman in Jordan, especially as it came only days after tension flared up in the Middle Eastern country.

But easyJet has been planning the route for well over a year—plus taking steps to postpone or pull out altogether would have been costly.

The airline would normally give a new route two to three years to become a success but is prepared for it to take longer if necessary, its Chief Executive Carolyn McCall has said. She’ll only pull the route if the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) advises against all but essential travel.

But while the country seems safer and less volatile than neighbouring countries, there are still a few protests. That of course will dent demand, Ms. McCall admits.

But she is positive. If anything she’ll launch routes from other countries, including France and Switzerland to Jordan once affairs settle down and demand returns.

Ancillary revenue isn’t quite the life blood of budget airlines, but it is an important factor for those carriers that offer cheap ticket prices to fill their planes in the hope of maximizing revenue from extras.

Those extras are checked-in baggage that is stowed in the cargo hold, speedy boarding, whereby passengers pay a premium to board aircrafts first to choose their seats, and in-flight sales of food, drinks and other items, and so on.

But it seems far fewer people are prepared to pay for these ‘extras’ since the imposition value-added tax on some goods, which came into effect in the second quarter of 2010.

Well, well, well. It seems the aviation industry has caught a cold and everyone seems to be turning down their bonuses because they know they just don’t deserve them.

Maybe they think it’s the perfect way to say “forgive us” for ruining your holiday.

easyJet‘s bosses have waived their right to bonuses after what can be described as a terrible year in terms of disruptions (worse punctuality than Air Zimbabwe) and the run of negative publicity that made the airline fall from grace.

But they aren’t the only ones to shy away from a pile of dosh. Just before Christmas, BAA‘s Chief Executive Colin Matthews turned down his bonus after the airport operator became the Grinch when it stole Christmas from thousands of people because it couldn’t cope with heavy snowfall.

Michael O’Leary will no doubt find a way to make light of news that his Ryanair low-cost airline is the fourth most despised “family brand,” according to new research from ad agency Isobel in association with YouGov.

It might make him smile that rival easyJet is 8th in the rankings of the U.K.’s least liked family brands.

But perhaps the research will prompt these budget airlines to rethink their strategy so that customers are once again put first. The efficiency and comfort such carriers offer to families looking to book holiday flights on a budget can make or ruin an annual vacation.

Late running planes, a lack of food on board and rude staff are just a few of the things families want to avoid.

Click here to see who ranked where in the top 10 and the bottom 10 U.K. family brands.

Paul Moore has re-emerged in the aviation world, having been appointed as easyJet’s Communications Director.

He’ll take his post at the budget carrier on Nov. 1.

EasyJet’s new CEO Carolyn McCall said:

“His experience will be extremely valuable to easyJet given the depth and breadth of his background in the sector.”

Paul will sit on the Airline Management Board and report to McCall.

But I wonder how the ex-Virgin Atlantic Director of Corporate Affairs will cope – having once been spoiled by Virgin’s trendy lounge that offers champagne and free manicures, and of course flat beds — with the no frills approach?